Do you wish there's a god?

[robvalue]

I don’t see what nihilism has to do with atheism or theism. In fact, I find nihilism to be a meaningless term.

What is it referring to?

If it’s saying there is no subjective meaning/purpose, that no one finds any meaning in anything, then that’s clearly false. To be "a nihilist" under these conditions would just be denying basic evidence.

If it’s saying there’s no objective meaning/purpose, then I’d say such a thing is impossible anyway. You always have to create some sort of filter or reference point for which to determine the meaning or purpose of something. Even if this is a purpose which relates to something outside of our section of reality (a god or whatever), it is still a subjective purpose, to that god. That’s no more objective than me finding meaning or purpose.

So basically, I find the term redundant. It’s either trivially true or trivially false, depending on how you define the terms. The only thing that makes sense is to apply it to yourself only: "I find no meaning or purpose in anything", or something like that. This doesn’t say anything about meaning or purpose in general. Adding or subtracting a god wouldn’t add or subtract any meaning or purpose for me. It’s irrelevant. I already have things which give me meaning and purpose. If someone else finds those things meaningless, that doesn’t make me a nihilist.

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PS: I thought of another way of representing what people sometimes mean by it.

"I find the way other people attribute meaning/purpose to be meaningless."

In other words, if I set the standards for what counts as meaning or purpose, then I can use that to deny anyone else’s attempts to find it, thus resulting in "nihilism".